Click here to read the Forbes commentary.

In August 2007, after 10 parole hearings (and being found suitable six times), Woodmore was finally released from prison.  While in prison, Woodmore obtained her GED, completed a vocational certification program, assisted with creating a battered women group, and became a member of an initiative to support youth at-risk of becoming ensnared in the criminal justice system.  Since her release, Woodmore has been active in advocacy campaigns with a range of local and statewide organizations, in an effort tot reduce California’s reliance on incarceration and harsh punishment.

]]> http://gabrielcity.com/news-and-journalism/soros-fellowship-for-woman-ex-prisoner.html/feed 0 http://gabrielcity.com/letters/what-i-want-my-words-to-do-to-you.html http://gabrielcity.com/letters/what-i-want-my-words-to-do-to-you.html#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:37:15 +0000 hcdmedia http://gabrielcity.com/?p=3072 What I Want My Words To Do To You offers an unprecedented look into the minds and hearts of women inmates of New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.  The film goes inside a writing workshop led by playwright Eve Ensler, consisting of 15 women, most of whom were convicted of murder.  Through a series of exercises and discussions, the women, delve into and expose their most terrifying realities as they grapple with the nature of their crimes and culpability.

Click here to learn more about What I Want My Words To Do To You.

Click here to read the article.

Elaine Leeder’s book Inside and Out: Women, Prison, and Therapy takes a look at the growing problem of female incarceration. Leeder’s uses her feminist perspective to dispel stereotypes about women offenders. The book also includes an in-depth analysis of how violence has affected women and led to increased criminality.

Inside and Out: Women, Prison, and Therapy can be purchased on Amazon.com.

In his 2006 photo essay, Nerv, Fabio Cuttica used photos from a beauty pageant inside of Bogota’s Buen Pastor Prison. The beauty pageant is in honor of the patron saint of prisoners, Virgin Mercedes.

Various other photographs of prison beauty pageants can be seen on a Russian website here, however it is unclear if some of these are staged or photojournalism.

In Mexico it is legal for children born to incarcerated mothers to stay inside prison until the age of six. At Santa Martha Acatitla Prison for Women in Mexico City, around 50 children are living among women serving sentences for drug dealing, kidnapping, and murder. Caroline Bennett captures the lives of these women and children on black and white film.

Malika Saada Saar, executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, claims that the majority of these women are in prison for non-violent or drug-related crimes. The female prison population has risen 432% over the past 25 years due to mandatory sentences for drug-related crimes.

Read the full article here

More of Ava Berkofsky’s photography can be found on her website.